The ABCs of Sakura Haruno
by RuneYue
Summary: Twenty-six drabbles, one per each letter of the alphabet, centering around the amazing pink haired medic-nin from Konoha! Various parings, genres and themes.
1. Amusement

**Title:** Amusement**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura. Tsunade, Naruto, Ino, TenTen, Hinata and others in passing.**  
Disclaimer:** Kishimoto owns Sakura and the world in which she comes from.**  
Rating:** T or PG-13 for implied situations.**  
Dedication:** The Sakura fans out there! She rocks our socks off!**  
Summary:** _Sakura is constantly amused._

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Sakura Haruno didn't think she'd ever get tired of people underestimating her. To most people Sakura was a first generation kunoichi with no discernable skills to speak of, a no-talent little girl who liked to play nurse, a weak little weight upon the shoulders of great men or so the rumours went. Which was just fine with her. In fact, not only was it a great asset in the heat of battle but she found that the situations that sprung forth from the various misjudgments were downright amusing!

She may of been a first generation kunoichi, but she was just as or even more so skilled then her friends whom belonged to prestigious clans. She had precise chakra control that could rival Weapon Mistress TenTen, the power of her mind to rival - and often beat - Mind Technique Master Ino and a delicate touch of power to rival the Hyuuga Heiress Hinata.

Her first date with her first boyfriend, a chuunin from the Hyuuga clan, found this out when he tried to force her into a good night kiss after a rather boring date. While he lied there on the street in a rather tangled heap of his own blood and limbs, Sakura couldn't help but remark how _lucky_ he was to come from an_ well respected clan _with such a_ powerful _doujutsu. He must've been able to see every single hit of her's that landed!

She may of liked her profession as a medical kunoichi and apprentice to the Legendary Slug Sannin, but often it was forgotten that the title of such had to be_ earned_.

Many folks, shinobi and civilian - Konoha natives and foreigners - alike merely assumed she had gotten her rank due to the fact that she was best friends with the loud mouth blonde, Naruto, that the new Hokage seemed to favour. Why else would the Fifth Hokage amuse herself with such a weak no-talent kunoichi?

Several shinboi found the answer to that question the hard way when they tried to play doctor to the pink haired nurse. This was a _mistake_, one in which you needed no doujutsu to see.

While Sakura may of liked to use her medical talents, and she had plenty to speak of, she had learned them by being Tsunade's apprentice. The same Tsunade who passed down to the pink haired kunoichi everything she knew.

_Everything_.

There were many other situations that constantly sprung forth - grabby diplomats, of varying ages, who found themselves unconscious in the women's portion of the public onsen to misogynistic patients who found themselves _conveniently_ getting to know one another due to some rather creative bandaging to severely annoying and misinformed suitors who ended up needing protection from her rather spot on hits - and they never ceased to keep Sakura amused.

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I know. I _know_.

_But you're not even done with Naruto's collection yet!_

I know. Trust me, I know and I have the next one already planned out for him, as well as one for Kagome's collection, but this drabble just screamed to me and it only seemed to fit in a collection for Sakura rather than stand alone. She was going to get her own series of drabbles eventually, it just happened sooner than I thought. All you can do now is enjoy them and keep tuned for more!


	2. Blossom

**Title:** Blossom**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura with mentions of Sasuke, Ino and Hinata in passing.**  
Disclaimer:** Kishimoto created Sakura and the world in which she comes from.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13 for implied situations. Angst.**  
Dedication:** The Sakura fans out there! She rocks our socks off!**  
Summary:** _Sakura usually likes to garden._

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Sakura loved to garden. It relaxed her. It comforted her. It made her smile. To her, gardening was a lot like her own medical works. Her blossoms bloomed exactly like her patients recovered. The similarities began their and didn't end for quite the list's length.

For instance, in order to be a great medic-nin, you had to have a steady hand. You had to carefully guide your chakra to the right paths, careful not to skip over any potential wound nor accidentally flood too much chakra to one point, for the consequences could be dire. You had to be able to carefully cut open the skin to remove or patch up any internal injury and do so quickly so as not to place any more strain on the body than it was already dealing with.

The same could be said about gardening. You're hands must be strong enough to break through the toughest soil, separate the strongest roots and hold the heaviest of plants and pots. They had to be gentle enough to not break the stems nor roots or injure the most delicate of plants. They had to be steady enough to correctly secure the most fragile of branches to supports for continued growth.

It was amazing to see all the similarities that lay between the separated categories of medical and plantae, but it was even more amazing to see what differences occurred when different people took care of different plants.

When she visited Ino's flower shop, she constantly saw strong yet beautiful blooms, all telling a different story and ready at a moment's notice for use. She saw many of Ino's creations and productions of hard work in her patient's rooms. Some told of strength after a rather valiant battle while other's spoke softly of a hope of recovery. Some, rarely though, simply said thank you. All spoke of love.

When she visited the Hyuuga compound and sat down to tea with Hinata in the gardens, she saw the product of the heiress's own gentle yet comforting work about surround the area, promoting that same supportive environment they had grown up in. The leaves shone proudly in the sun's light and the petals beckoned forth a gentle peace while the fragrances gave a soft, subtle nudge of courage.

So, it really came as an icy shock that warm spring morning when the White Iris that Sakura had planted for her former teammate, now ANBU Captain, Sasuke, in hopes of promoting some good news and glad tiding began to finally blossom only to just as quickly turn a darker colour, almost pure black.

If trees could talk and flowers speak, Sakura was positive she could hear her entire garden crying as all of her blossoms had begun to lower to the Iris and weep as in a state of permanently forgone hope. She could only fall to her knees and pray - despite the wisps of her own soul that told her it was for naught, that the blossoms were of nature itself and couldn't lie - that somehow she had brought home fragments of some remaining toxin from work that had caused such a drastic change or some such just as similar. Something. _Anything_ that could explain it all away and still keep Sasuke safe.

For once, Sakura's garden had lost all it's comfort. For once, she couldn't smile. At least not any more than her blossoms could lie.

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Eh... This one doesn't really feel that right to me. -sigh- I don't know why. But whatever, here it is. The next chapter will be better!

Thanks for reading and feel free to review.


	3. Change

**Title:** Change**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura, Sai, Naruto and Sasuke. Hints of Sakura x Sai.**  
Disclaimer:** Sakura and the entire Naruto series belong to Kishimoto. I'm just having some non-profit fun with it all.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13 for situations, implied and otherwise. AU.**  
Dedication:** Fans of Sakura and Sai, whether together or apart.**  
Summary:** _Sakura isn't handling this new change all too well._

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She couldn't believe this was happening. She wanted to scream. Or hit something. Or both! Both sounded good. _Really good_. It may hurt for a little while after but she had to do _something_. Something that would help make sense of this- this- this stupid new situation!

Her best friends, Naruto and Sasuke, the two guys she could always count on during everything in her entire life - from their first meeting in kindergarten where Naruto put glue in her hair and Sasuke tried to cut it out with a pair of broken safety scissors to just last month when the two had _not-so-subtly_ thrashed her ex-boyfriend in that unusually sparse mosh pit - were now gone, leaving her all alone, for who knows how long!

Perhaps_ "wanting to scream" _wasn't exactly the right phrase. Perhaps _"wanting to punch down a building and burn down the remains into absolutely nothing" _was more appropriate. Perhaps more drinks of an alcoholic kind were necessary to form a coherent descriptive phrase that didn't make her sound like a possessive, homicidal freak of nature.

Sakura signaled to the bartender for another shot of liquor and downed it just as quick.

Really, she couldn't fault them. They were going off to visit Sasuke's dying brother one last time... and then to have wild hot and steamy passionate marathon sex at his favourite beach house out of spite. Maybe even on top of his grave after he kicked the bucket.

Okay, so Sakura could fault them. Heck, she may of hated Itachi's guts just as much as those two, but at least she wasn't abandoning her _best-friends-forever _to dish out some - rather disgusting when she thought about it - last minute revenge! At least she hadn't of done that! She hadn't done much of anything, really, to deserve this...

Another shot down.

And to top it off, to top it freaking off, they had both promised to send her post cards and call! As if she needed a reminder that they were gone and away and untouchable for an indeterminable amount of time. Like she really needed a picture of the beach they were currently sexing each other up on smack dab in the middle of her fridge.

Sakura slammed her shot glass down and began to mutter beneath her breath. Abandoned and drunk. Her night was turning out to be perfect.

Suddenly, someone pushed her from behind, spilling their drink all over her favourite shirt. Abandoned, drunk and wet - neither of the three in any sense of a good definition, either. That was it! She absolutely needed to hit something now.

"Oh! I'm sorry!",the voice of her liquid attacker said from behind as suddenly a handful of napkins were pressed against the front of her shirt. She grabbed them in a rage and shot out of her seat. Abandoned, drunk, wet and _groped_. For one split second of enraged insanity, Sakura briefly wondered if steam was actually coming out of her ears like it occurred in cartoons.

"You're sorry?!",she hissed, turning around and giving her attacker a glare that had often turned most individuals into a whimpering shell of their former selves. To her surprise, he didn't even flinch.

Her attacker - she briefly noted how pale his skin was, how black his hair was, how dark his eyes were, how fake his smile seemed and how that smile seemed to immediately annoy the hell out of her - took a step back and nodded, absently scratching his head in an instinctive quirk. "Well, yes, miss. That's what I said."

Sakura snorted, folding her arms across her damp chest. "Sorry for dousing me in beer or sorry for groping me? If you value your limbs, you'll answer carefully---"

"Both, I guess.",he replied, not even having the grace to let her finish her usual small, threatening rant. She glared harder.

"Both?",she asked, her voice no longer loud but dangerously low.

He nodded, his smiler growing into a smirk. Alarm bells suddenly went off in Sakura's mind. The smile seemed fake. The smirk was real. She eased herself back onto her bar stool, now facing him as she ordered a glass of water instead of another shot. If this beer bumbler was going to try something funny, she couldn't let herself get any more intoxicated.

"Both.",he restated, sliding into the seat beside her with an all too smooth ease. "The groping was _mostly_ an accident."

Sakura could feel her temperature rising. "Mostly?",she asked, only to have her question ignored.

"The beer, well, I had to get your attention somehow.",his smirk grew slightly wider as he took the new beer the bartender handed him.

Sakura quickly swiveled her chair about and began to sip down her glass of water so as not to allow him sight of her rapidly burning face. He had, he said...wait! No! He had groped her - mostly on accident - and doused her in beer - not on accident. What was he, five?! Then again, Naruto had poured glue into her hair and Sasuke had given her a rather choppy new hair cut--- Wait! What does he have to do with Sasuke and Naruto?! He's not them! He's - well, she didn't know his name, but still! People didn't just go up to other people and throw beer at them in order to begin a conversation. A bar fight? Sure. But _never_ a conversation!

Sakura tried to focus on the negatives, hoping to cool herself off in the process. She had just been abandoned by her friends and then got attacked with alcohol. She was not in a good mood! Some handsome stranger hitting on her at a bar would not improve her mood! She was angry, dammit, and had ever right to remain as such!

Didn't she? It wasn't like she had asked for all these changes to come up. It wasn't like she wanted to be abandoned by the people she trusted most in order for them to have some sort of wild revenge-fling thing. It wasn't like she liked not having control. But, really, was it all out of her control?

The pink haired young woman glanced to her right and frowned. Maybe change, her own, carefully planned out and totally in control of, change wouldn't be so bad. Maybe.

"So, what's your name?",she asked, setting down her now empty glass.

A look of rapidly passing surprise flittered across the black haired young man's face before being replaced with that annoying fake smile. Like that smile was really going to make everything better. Sakura held back from smacking him across the face.

"My name is Sai and I'm an art student at the Konoha University, Root Dorms.",he replied with an almost practiced ease.

She nodded. "Hi, Sai. I'm Sakura. Nursing student in the Sannin Dorms."

So far, so good.

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Are you surprised by the length of this? Good. Me too. Don't expect it too often.

Anyways, thanks for the read and feel free to review! Here's hoping I was able to entertain someone for a little bit!


	4. Dream

**Title:** Dream**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura and Sasuke. Passing mention of Team Seven and Orochimaru.**  
Disclaimer:** Characters and series belong to Kishimoto. This little drabble belongs to me.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13 for language and implied situations.**  
Dedication/Notes:** Fans of Sakura and Sasuke.**  
Summary:** _Sakura wakes up from a very bad dream._

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It was the middle of the night and all seemed well within Konohagakure. _Seemed_, that is. In one eastern placed apartment, however, things were slightly amiss.

Newly appointed Jounin, Sakura Haruno shot up from bed with a startled gasp, sending her sweat soaked pink locks flying everywhere. Her grandmother's antique clock ticked softly in the corner and, on instinct, Sakura palmed a kunai until her eyes locked with the aged wood and brass device. Closing her eyes, too tired to adequately feel the embarrassment from thinking the clock a threat, Sakura gentle replaced the weapon in it's normal hidden spot and sighed. A dream. It was just a dream. A really, _really_ bad dream.

A grunt sounded off from her right and Sakura quickly turned her head to the side, gazing down at her husband's restlessly slumbering form. A small smile graced her features as a feeling of safety began to flow through her tensed body. She carefully caressed his forehead, moving his messy dark locks out of his face. Sitting up straighter, Sakura took in her husband's toned body, muscled arms and the infamous Uchiha Clan symbol lining the elastic band of his sliding blue silk boxers.

Sasuke was still here, in her - _their_ - bed. He wasn't off with that snake bastard, learning forbidden techniques and killing with reckless abandonment in some form of sick, misdirected revenge. No, they, Team Seven, had killed that decrepit pervert ages ago, shortly after all three of them had made chuunin. Sasuke wasn't there. He wasn't gone. He was here, alive and safe. And hers.

With a quiet sigh, Sakura carefully fell back into bed and cuddled up into the temptingly bare back of _her_ Sasuke, wrapping her arms around his sleeping form. She had no intention of ever letting go. Not even in her dreams.

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I know, I know. It's about _damn_ time I updated! Sorry for the delay. Midterms were on my mind more than my fanfics. I am now attempting to rectify that! Forgive me?

Anywho, as always, thank you for reading and please review!


	5. Ecstatic

**Title:** Ecstatic**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura x ?. Mentions of Team Seven and Ino.**  
Disclaimer:** Kishimoto owns Sakura, as well as the entire Naruto series. I, however, own this drabble/ficlet.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13, to be safe, for implied situations and violence.**  
Dedication/Notes:** For those who like seeing Sakura get one over on Ino.**  
Summary:** _Sakura has a rather good reason to be happy today._

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At the moment, she, Sakura Haruno, medical kunoichi extraordinaire, was the happiest girl alive. And she couldn't wait to flaunt it in Ino Yamanaka's face.

With an excited giggle - one befitting that of a Genin rather than a Jounin, even a newly appointed Jounin - she set off down the street, happily basking in all the whispers around her. With a man like her's, she couldn't help but swell with pride at each not-so-subtle glance to the ring on her hand and jealous death glare to her back.

For the past several years, Sakura had trained hard. She had fought her way through many enemy shinobi and up the ranks. She took down all those who would endanger her beloved Konohagakure, before finally - with the help of the newly formed Team Seven - dragging her wayward ex-teammate's sorry, beaten ass home. She had then devoted her time, energy, chakra and, more often than not, life to healing shinobi and civilians alike.

She did it all, without one word or moan of complaint, for everyone else. She would of continued to, too, if not for those three little words from the one she had hoped, but least expected.

_"I love you."_

At first, she thought it to be a joke, some sort of playful - yet mean - prank. Somehow he must of found out about her silly, year - nearly decade - long, childhood crush and was teasing her. He had to be, there was no other explanation. With that thought firmly in mind, she called him on it.

One slightly dented wall, as well as two pairs of swollen lips later, and she knew it was for real.

Their relationship had progressed rather quickly, even for shinobi - which was what lead Tsunade-shishou to threaten her poor lover with the removal of various body parts and lack of function of others -, thus, four months later, she found herself a soon to be bride and the happiest kunoichi in the world. Nothing in the world could ever make her happier.

Well, maybe one thing...

"Hey, forehead!", an annoying, yet familiar, voice called out.

There it was! Turning around, Sakura came face to face with her blonde friend/rival, Ino Yamanaka.

"Ino-pig."

"There's a rumour going on, one about you and that so called 'boyfriend' of your--"

"Fiancè.",Sakura automatically corrected, flashing her new ring for all around to see. She soon found herself beaming at the various expressions morphing about on the other kunoichi's face. It was now officially the Best Day Ever.

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Who's Sakura engaged to? Hahaha! I'll never tell!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to review, folks!


	6. Fix

**Title:** Fix**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura and Sai, with a passing mention of Tsunade. Sai x Sakura as a paring.**  
Disclaimer:** Kishimoto owns Sakura, Sai and the whole series of Naruto.**  
Rating/Warnings:** T or PG-13, to be safe. Mild cursing, mild intimate moment.**  
Dedication/Notes:** For Pyrozia, because she likes the paring and is a wonderful reviewer!**  
Summary:** _Sakura fixes everything. But who will fix her?_

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As a medically talented shinobi, Sakura Haruno was used to hearing people demand that she fix whatever ailed them. _Fix this, fix that, why can't you just do it?! _It was annoying, stressful and more often than not, a thankless job, but she still did it.

Sometimes, she didn't know why she did it. It wasn't as if Konoha was lacking in the area of medical shinobi, not since Tsunade-shishou had returned, at least. True, Sakura was in a league of her own when it came to the special talent, but really, there were others who were good enough. She wasn't needed at the hospital twenty-four/seven, but that's where she could always be found.

Each morning, Sakura showed up - or got up, if she had just chosen to sleep in her office for two hours rather than go home and forfeit about thirty minutes to travel - ready to be ordered around by people who were injured, demanding she fixed whatever mess they got themselves into. Day in and day out, that's what she did - fix people - because she was a medical shinobi. It was her job, it was her mission and she was beginning to absolutely despise it.

So, Sakura was incredibly surprised when, one morning, she had awaken to find herself not staring out her office's wide bay window at the various protective faces of the Hokage Monument, but instead at one protective face - the same face that held a pair of obsidian eyes which often haunted her dreams. A face that just happened to belong to her newest of teammates.

Before she could even utter a word of shock, or disapproval, at him breaking into her office, _yet again_, he spoke.

"Let me fix you."

His voice didn't hold it's usual blase tone, but a soft, worried one. A caring one. The same one she had longed to hear for ages, but could only in her dreams.

"Wh--",Sakura began, standing up, ready to question everything about the situation, as well as what time it was because, _dammit_, she had another double shift today.

A hand shot out to grasp her arm and Sakura felt herself being pulled close.

"Let me fix you.",Sai reiterated, resting his head on her shoulder as his hands drifted from her arm to her waist and held her tight. She shuddered into the embrace, letting herself melt into the strong grip, burying her face in his chest. He smelt of ink, parchment and vanilla. He smelt of heaven.

"Okay.",she mumbled softly, feeling safer than she had in very long while. Truthfully, out of all the people that could fix her, he was the only one she absolutely trusted to do so. He was the only one who could set her free.

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Every single time I think I won't be able to write anything, I go and prove myself wrong. If only that sentence held true when it came to class assignments. /sigh/

Thank you for reading and please feel free to review!


	7. Good

**Title:** Good**  
Series: **Naruto**  
Parings/Characters: **Sakura and Naruto, with a small mention or two of Ino.**  
Disclaimer:** Kishimoto owns Sakura, Naruto and Ino.**  
Rating/Warnings:** K+ to PG, me thinks.**  
Dedication/Notes:** For the NaruSaku fans!**  
Summary:** _Sakura can't explain something._

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Sakura couldn't explain it. Not when she was a child, not as a student, not as a genin and definitely not now, as a chuunin. It was confusing, but she had learned to live with not knowing at least one thing forwards and backwards in life. As a shinobi - especially one assigned to Kakashi-sensei's team - she had come to expect the unexpected. She just didn't expect it during her personal life.

The first time it happened, she had been playing on the playground with Ino and the other children. Still a shy thing, Sakura hadn't of fully come out of her shell yet. So, when a loud yell cut through the sounds of happy laughter and right into her ear, she reacted purely on instincts and _decked_ the idiot responsible.

As she glanced down, she came face to face with the bluest pair of eyes possible and gaped in horror. She had just hit another person, a kid like her - and injured him! What would his parents say? What would_ her _parents say?! Her friends would hate her! His friends would hate her! Not good, _not good_...

Worry after worry began to flood into her mind before loud laughter filled the air. It wasn't the same laughter that surrounded her while in the park, but a kind that actually seemed to touch her. It was a kind she seemed to be a part of.

"Wh-what's so funny?",she asked, not believing that someone could be laughing when they were injured and on the ground. Especially not around the person who hurt them!

The boy grinned up at Sakura and chuckled. "You sure don't hit like a girl!",he stated, sitting up in one swift movement.

She didn't know what had come over her, but at that moment Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Something about the way he had looked at her, spoke _to _her and not around her, made her happy. And best of all, he didn't hate her! He was _smiling _at her!

Still. It wasn't right to just laugh about and not apologize. She had hit him after all.

When the giggles and laughter all died down, leaving only two smiles, Sakura opened her mouth to express her sorrow at having hit him - and hopefully learn his name, she really wanted another friend! -. Unfortunately, before either one could speak another word, Ino had bust into their comfortable circle of two to drag Sakura off to play a game of hide-and-seek.

It had been years after that first experience of Naruto induced laughter and she still couldn't explain it. Somehow, he always seemed to know how to make her bad days good again. Sakura felt that she was just going to have to chalk it all up to being one of Naruto's many surprising powers and let the good times roll.

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Spur of the moment fanfic is spur of the moment and oddly fluffy. Perhaps I left it in the dryer too long...

Regardless, thank you for reading! Reviews are always welcome!


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